Hello,

Arun Isaac <arunisaac@systemreboot.net> writes:

>> As far as I understand it, it was done for purpose: some packages
>> include "uninteresting" (for tests, maintenance, etc.) *.el files in
>> subdirs, that's why they are excluded by default.  So probably a better
>> solution would be to fix 'ert-runner' package (as it is done in commit
>> b1d32ec0e23bfec1dab4c56909228a494b2b0d60, for example).  WDYT?
>
> I agree. The solution is to fix the ert-runner package, not the
> emacs-build-system.
>
>> This change also doesn't prevent excluding subfolders if they are truly
>> unnecessary (such as tests subfolder), but this should happen due to
>> explicit regexp in the exclude option, not because *all* subfolders are
>> excluded.
>
> We adopted the policy of excluding *all* subfolders from MELPA. From
> their "Recipe Format" section at https://github.com/melpa/melpa
>
> "Note that elisp in subdirectories is never included by default, so you
> might find it convenient to separate auxiliiary files such as tests into
> subdirectories to keep packaging simple."

Oh. I didn't know MELPA had such a policy. This is a good point. It's
nice to try to stick to whatever MELPA does, as they've pretty much
become the authority in Elisp packaging IIUC.

> I think this is a good policy. If we include subfolders by default,
> we'll have to modify many packages with #:exclude arguments to get rid
> of unnecessary subfolders. However, if we exclude subfolders by default,
> we'll only have to modify fewer packages with #:include arguments.

Although, for the sake of cleanliness, they enforce a project layout
that discourage the organization of a project in subdirectories, which I
find a bit strange. But if the lack of complaints about it in the MELPA
issues tracker tells anything, it doesn't seem to be much of a bother
for most projects (this might have to do with the fact that until
recently most Elisp projects were organized as a single file of
thousands of lines of code ;).

>> I also think these arguments are redundant!  I suggested to remove this
>> duplication at:
>>
>>   https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=26559#41
>
> And, I did respond at
> https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=26559#53
>
>> ... but I think the include/exclude arguments need to be duplicated in
>> two places. For example, look at arguments #:strip-flags and
>> #:strip-directories in the `strip' phase of the gnu-build-system. Even
>> there, the default values of the arguments are repeated in two places.

> Do you know of some way in which we can avoid duplication of the
> arguments? Even the gnu-build-system duplicates default values of
> arguments.

I've decided to go with the flow and modify ert-runner so that it
includes the elisp files under the 'reporters' subdirectory. I've also
factorized out the default args of the include and exclude option of the
emacs-build-system install phase. Please see the two patches attached.

Maxim